Muxy was asked to help usher a new version of live sports viewing on Twitch. The results were very impressive and listed in this case study.

1. WATCHING BASKETBALL, GAMIFIED
CASE STUDY
At Muxy, we build software that makes live event streams more fun and exciting for viewers
as well as more profitable for broadcasters and brands. In this case study, we will describe the
custom interactive Twitch extension Muxy designed and developed for the NBA G League, which
constitutes a truly revolutionary step in the evolution of interactivity in sports broadcasts.

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The NBA G League is the NBA’s official minor league. G
League players have the opportunity to play basketball at
a professional level with potential for being signed by NBA
teams; the G League also regularly features NBA players
recovering from injuries getting back in the game.
THE PROBLEM
Twitch launched their Extensions program, which
allows approved software to run right on top of
the Twitch video player, in 2017. When the NBA
approached Twitch to discuss how to bring the
G League 2018 season to the platform, Twitch
recommended developing a custom extension to
drive viewership and make the games more exciting
and engaging for viewers. The NBA expressed interest
in this route and Twitch sent a loose RFP detailing a
number of desired features to a number of potential
development partners.
“Our deal with Twitch will be groundbreaking. By leveraging fan commentary,
new technology and a passionate community, Twitch elevates video in a
unique, engaging way that resonates with young viewers. We look forward to
collaborating with their team to create something truly special for basketball
fans.” - MALCOLM TURNER, NBA G LEAGUE PRESIDENT
CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT
Following the arrival of Twitch’s RFP for the NBA G League extension, the Muxy team’s first task was to
translate the features mentioned into a coherent extension. Especially since this was the first project
of its kind undertaken by Twitch, the Muxy team took great care to think carefully through what
presentation of the specific features requested by Twitch and the NBA would be successful from the
different perspectives of the NBA, co-streamers, and viewers. The key goal was to create an interactive
experience that would be fun, exciting and engaging for viewers while not overly distracting them
from what was actually happening during the games. Tying the extension to what was happening in
real time was crucial. Furthermore, sports viewers are there for the game, not gimmicks, so Muxy had
to create an experience that would enhance the basketball viewing experience without distracting
from the game itself.
“With Extensions, the Twitch
community can interact in
ways that were never thought
possible... you now have the
power to truly impact the
streaming experience - whether
you’re a streamer or viewer.”
- Twitch, “Extensions: A Revolution in
Live Streaming”

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The scoreboard has always been a crucial part of the sports viewing experience, so Muxy developed
the concept of the extension functioning as an interactive “enhanced scoreboard” that would allow
basketball fans to access in-depth data about the game. The Muxy team also wanted to increase
engagement and interaction by rewarding viewers both for the time they spend watching the games
and for their knowledge of the teams and players.
MUXY’S SOLUTION
With these concepts in mind, Muxy created its proposal for the NBA G League extension. The
extension would display real-time statistics updates for the game, teams, and players. Viewers
could access team statistics and player statistics, compare individual players, and view the G League
schedule.
Following review of Muxy’s proposal by Twitch and the NBA, Muxy’s proposal was chosen and the
project moved forward. Twitch’s interest in controlling the final product led to them bringing in one
of their staff designers to design the extension UX/UI, which Muxy accomodated. The development
of the first version of the extension ended up taking around 6 weeks. After the first version of the
extension was launched, a loyalty system was added in a second version in which viewers earned
points for watching games and predicting players’ performance. Viewers competed to gain the most
points and climb the season-long Leaderboard. The various components of the extension interface
are shown below, with specific items labelled on the following page.

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Video of extension in action at
muxy.io/productvideos
launch
panel
quarterly
polling
player
card
team view
team stats
play-by-
play game
summary
game ticker
(clicking on
another game
opens the
extension
loaded with
game’s
information)
player boost
notifications
for boosted
player

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PROJECT RESULTS
At this point, NBA G League games are fairly niche for Twitch; live sports are not a traditional form of
content on the site and the extension was only available during part of one NBA G League season. The
result of these factors is that the viewership of the games was relatively low, resulting in a somewhat
small sample size for the statistics we have collected. However, despite the smaller sample size, a few
very promising trends can be extracted from the data available.
By giving NBA G League viewers a new way to engage with games, we saw a dramatic increase
in viewer session duration among viewers who interacted with the extension. The loyalty system
in particular shows great promise as a means for driving interaction and viewer engagement in
future applications. After the loyalty system was first implemented, the interaction rate increased
dramatically and viewers who engaged with the loyalty system had the highest increase in view time.
This shows that extensions, and especially loyalty systems, can greatly increase viewer retention.
Encouraging more viewers to interact with loyalty system extensions would likely further increase
viewer retention and time watched.
161 Quarterly Polling Submissions | 941 Players Backed
2,098 Player Cards Opened
In summary, Muxy’s NBA G League extension represents a productive collaboration between our
team and a highly influential professional sports organization. Although the NBA G League on Twitch
is still in its infancy, the extension Muxy has built constitutes an impressive and successful innovation
in the exciting world of live sports streams.
Average Session Duration (HR:MIN:SEC)
0:38:20
1:10:17
1:43:00
2:29:13
Never interacted with
extension
Interacted at least
once with extension
Backed a player
Participated in
quarterly polling
23% increase in interaction rate
after launch of loyalty system
Average NBA G League broadcast length: 2:30:00